The Dell Vostro 3300 is a speedy SMB laptop that will accommodate any big-league professional, but make sure you buy it with the 8-cell battery.

Small businesses no longer have five-figure budgets to spend on laptops. Even big corporations are cutting down on IT expenditures. For this reason, Dell launched its Vostro line a couple of years ago, geared toward small businesses, startups, and corporations that don't need the bells and whistles of an enterprise laptop. The Dell Vostro 3300 ($1,142 direct) is very mobile, as it's the smallest in this line and features a 13.3-inch widescreen. Though it's small in size, it sports powerful parts can cater to any big league professional. I wouldn't recommend buying it without the 80WH (8-cell) battery, though.

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Design
There's nothing that sets an SMB laptop apart from a more consumer-oriented one in terms of design. The Vostro 3300 is as easy on the eyes as an HP Envy 13 ($1,899 direct, ) or an Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz) ($1,199 direct, ). Its brushed aluminum top is as sleek as the one found on the HP ProBook 5310m ($899 direct, ). It's more elegant than the plain Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 15 ($650 direct, ), and has the most color options for a business laptop, including Aberdeen Silver, Lucerne Red, and Brisbane Bronze. With the 8-cell battery, the 3300 (4.8 lbs) is at least a pound heavier than the 5310m (3.8 lbs), but it's still manageable on a long business trip. You can swap in the 4-cell battery to reduce its weight to 4.3 pounds.

The 13.3-inch widescreen is as big as the one found on the 5310m, and as vivid, too. Its resolution1,366 by 768is the minimum available on a 13-inch platform. Opting for an enterprise laptop, like the Lenovo ThinkPad X301 ($3,000 direct, ) or the Dell Latitude 4310, will allow you to upgrade to a higher resolution. The full size keyboard is as comfortable to use as the one found on the Lenovo ThinkPad T410 ($1,484 direct, ). SMB laptops like the HP 5310m and Lenovo Edge 15 have chiclet-style keyboards that delivered comparable typing experiences. Of course, the near-perfect user experience wouldn't be complete without the 3300's roomy touchpad and soft mouse buttons.

Features
In terms of features, the 3300's only misstep is omitting an HDMI portyou'll have to be satisfied with a VGA port. Meanwhile, most other business laptops, such as the the Lenovo Edge 15 and HP 5310m, have HDMI ports, which can stream both video and audio to a boardroom HDTV. The 3300 has 3 USB ports, one of which doubles as an eSATA connection, for external hard drives. Not that you need it, since this configuration comes with a speedy (7,200 rpm) 500GB hard drive. It also has an internal dual-layer DVD burnera feature that you won't find on the HP 5310m.

Performance
With components such as a 2.4GHz Intel Core i5-520M processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, and a fast hard drive, performance tests were stellar. The Lenovo Edge 15 and its lower grade Core i3 processor didn't stand a chance in tests like video encoding, as the 3300 had a convincing edge with a score of 47 seconds. The 3300 came in second to the Lenovo ThinkPad T410 in comprehensive performance tests like PCMark Vantage (6,714) and CineBench R10 (6,790), which is impressive given that the latter is a pricey enterprise laptop.

For 3D game developers, CAD professionals, and HD video editors, the 3300 ships with an Nvidia GeForce 310M graphics chip. It compiled 3DMark 06 (4,198) and World in Conflict (22 fps) scores that barely edged out the Thinkpad T410. In contrast, the Edge 15 and the 5310m ship with integrated graphics, which have less of a punch when it comes to graphics.

Powerful parts are also indicative of poor battery life. If you had only bought the standard 40WH battery (4-cell), the 3300 would be depleted midway through a coast to coast flight (2 hours 45 minutes in MobileMark tests). With the 80WH battery (8-cell), on the other hand, you'll get an additional 4 hours 55 minutes, according to MobileMark 2007 tests. So my recommendation is to make sure the 8-cell battery is part of any Vostro configuration (it's factored into the overall price of our review unit; otherwise it's a $99 option). Business laptops like the Lenovo T410 and HP 5310m blew past the 5-hour mark in battery tests, because they either came with bigger batteries (the T410 ships with a 94WH battery) or ran on more energy-efficient parts (the 5310m uses integrated graphics).

Beyond the small business laptop label, the Dell Vostro 3300 has all the makings of a great laptop. It's speedy, it's attractive, and it's lightweight for power users who take their business to the road. If you do plan to hit the road, make sure the 8-cell battery comes along for the ride. The HP ProBook 5310m will lighten your load even further, and it has a built-in HDMI port.

Dell Vostro 3300

Dell Vostro 3300

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